Bottle carrier construction for bottle washer



Aug. 27, 1963 e. 1.. N. MEYER BOTTLE CARRIER CONSTRUCTION FOR BOTTLEWASHER Filed June 16. 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 m [7? #297? for:

Aug. 27, 1963 G. L. N. MEYER BOTTLE CARRIER CONSTRUCTION FOR BOTTLEWASHER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 16,

United States Patent 3,101,834 BOTTLE CARRIER CONSTRUCTION FOR BOTTLEWASHER George L. N. Meyer, Milwaukee, Wis., assignor to Geo J. MeyerManufacturing Co., Cudahy, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Filed June16, 1961, Ser. No. 117,656 1 Claim. (Cl. 198131) This invention relatesto an improved bottle carrier construction for a bottle washing machine.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a bottle carrierassembly having a substantially greater capacity than prior designs.Such prior designs utilized spaced parallel bottle carriers mounted on acarrier chain each having single rows of aligned bottle carryingapertures. The capacity of such a carrier assembly is limited by howclose the individual carriers can be spaced from each other. The minimumspacing is determined largely by the interference between bottles and/or carriers at the point where the carrier assembly passes over theupper and lower wheels of a bottle washing machine and will dependlargely on the bottle size.

The improved bottle carrier construction of this invention contemplatesthe use of double-row" carriers each of which includes a top and bottomsheet rigidly secured together by suitable tie strips to form a unitarycarrier for mounting on a pair of carrier chains of conventional designwhich serve to translate the carriers through a bottle washing machine.The top and bottom sheets of each double-row carrier are provided withtwo rows of bottle carrying apertures with the apertures of one rowoffset with respect to the apertures of the other row. As will beexplained in detail hereinafter, the offset apertures of the top sheetare nested with respect to each other to thereby provide a minimumspacing between the two rows.

It will be appreciated that with this double row construction it ispossible to substantially increase the capacity of each carrier andthereby increase the overall capacity of the bottle washer withoutincreasing the size of the equipment to any appreciable extent.

To demonstrate the substantial increase in carrier capacity provided bythis invention, the following specific comparison will be helpful.Assume that with conventional single-row carriers it is necessary tospace the carriers at 4 inch intervals (4" pitch) along the chains tohandle bottles of a given size. Now to handle bottles of the same sizewith the improved double-row carrier of this invention it is necessarythat only a /2 inch pitch be provided. Thus, it is seen that by merelyincreasing the pitch from 4" to 5 /2 it is possible to handle twice asmany bottles giving an overall increase in this specific case of about45%.

While the improved construction of this invention may be used withbottle washers of various designs, the doublerow carriers covered bythis application are particularly adapted for use with the bottle washerloading and unloading apparatus disclosed in copending applicationsSerial Nos. 111,008 and 111,010, filed May 18, 196 1.

Other objects and advantages will be pointed out in, or be apparent fromthe specification and claims, as will obvious modifications of the oneembodiment shown in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of a single bottle carrierembodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2--2 of FIG. 1;

3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4--4 of FIG. 1.

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. As explained previously, the unique feature of the bottle carrier ofthis invention is the combination of two parallel and oifset rows ofbottle carrying apertures in a single bottle carrier. Such carriers aremounted on a pair of bottle carrying chains of conventional designdriven by any suitable means to translate a plurality of bottles througha bottle washing machine.

A bottle carrier-embodying the present invention is shown in thedrawings and is identified by reference numeral 10. Carrier 10 comprisesspaced top and bottom sheets 12 and 14, respectively, securely fastenedtogether by tie strips 16 welded or otherwise secured between oppositeends of the top and bottom sheets.

Top and bottom carrier sheets 12 and 14 are preferably made from metalstampings which, when fastened together by tie strips '16, form aunitary bottle carrier 10. A plurality of carriers 10 are mountedbetween a pair of carrier chains 18 (only one shown) by suitablebrackets 20 (only one shown). Chains 18 are provided with a plurality ofrollers 22 which ride in a suitable track (not shown) mounted in thebottle washing machine to thereby translate the bottle carriers 10through the machine by any suitable drive means (not shown).

Top sheet 12 is provided with a plurality of apertures 24 designed tosupport and steady the bases of bottles 26 (shown in dotted lines inFIG. 4). Bottom sheet 14 is stamped and drawn to provide a plurality ofdownwardly tapered bushing portions or cups 28 having apertures 30designed to receive and support the hooks of bottles 26 which are loadedinto the carrier through apertures 24 in the top sheet 12 with the neckof each bottle nested in a cup portion 28 of bottom sheet 14 as shownclearly in FIG. 4. The top and bottom sheets 12 and 14 are spaced so asto provide support for bottles when in the inverted position shown inFIG. 4 and also to support bottles when the carriers pass over asupporting wheel and move in a vertical direction.

As explained previously, in prior single-row carrier assemblies eachcarrier was adapted to receive and support a single row of bottles fortranslation through a bottle washing machine.

The carrier construction of the present invention is unique in that itis adapted to carry two rows of bottles per carrier and in this regardit has particular applicability for use with the novel bottle washerloading and unloading apparatus described in copending applicationSerial No. 111,008 and Serial No. 111,010, respectively.

In the carrier construction of this inventioh, the top and bottom sheets12 and 14 are provided with two parallel rows 32 and 34 of apertures 24and 30 with the apertures of one parallel row offset with the aperturesof the other row and with the top sheet apertures 24 of the two rowsnested with respect to each other so that the peripheries of apertures24 in the two rows are located closely adjacent each other as shown inFIG. 1.

This double-row construction with the offset apertures nested withrespect to each other is a unique feature of the carrier construction ofthis invention and facilitates the translation of an increased number ofbottles through a bottle washer without appreciably increasing the sizeof the overall carrier assembly and without increasing the speed atwhich the carrier chains are driven.

\As a further refinement of the present invention to permit minimumspacing between the oifset rows while maintaining structural rigidity,the top sheet 12 is extruded to form up and down flanges 36 and 38,respectively, for alternate rows 32 and 34, respectively.

This up and down flange construction is clearly shown in FIG. 3 whereinit is seen that the distance between the apertures of the first row 32and the adjacent apertures of the second row 34 is equal only to thethickness of the material used in making the top sheet. Thisconstruction, therefore, provides not only the required structuralstrength for the carrier top sheet but supplies such strength with aminimum of spacing between adjacent apertures of the two rows. Thus, byusing the up and down flange construction it is possible to provide themaximum capacity for the carrier while still maintaining the requiredstructural strength.

Although but one embodiment of the present invention has beenillustrated. and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in theart that various changes and modifications may be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of theappended claim.

I claim:

A bottle carrier for a bottle washing machine comprising, a top sheetmember, a bottom sheet member spaced from said top sheet member, aplurality of tie strip members rigidly secured to said top and bottomsheet members to fixedly secure said top and bottom sheet members toeach other, said top and bottom sheet members each having two parallelrows of bottle carrying apertures adapted to receive and support twoparallel rows of bottles therein, said two rows of apertures in said topsheet member being spaced from each other with the apertures of one rowbeing offset and nested with respect to the apertures of the other row,said two rows of apertures in said top sheet member being provided withflanged portions extending at right angles to said top sheet, saidflanged portions at the apertures of one of said two parallel rowsextending in a direction opposite to that of the flange portions at theapertures of the other of said two parallel rows.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS800,639 Gegenheimer Oct. 3, 1905 806,984 Lawrence Dec. 12, 1905 809,514Loew Jan. 9, 1906 1,313,706 Loew Aug. 19, 1919 1,740,233 Enz Dec. 17,1929

